The Betrayal of Charity: The Sins that Sabotage Divine Love
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Love was at one time a powerfully unifying force among Christians. In his letters, Paul consistently evokes charity as the avenue to both human and divine communion. If the magnitude of charity was of the utmost importance to early Christians, so were those sins that aimed to distract Christians from acting based on love. Taking seriously the efforts of Paul, and later Thomas Aquinas, to expose and root out the sins against charity, Matthew Levering reclaims the centrality of love for moral, and in fact all, theology. Levering argues that the practice of charity leads to inner joy and peace as well as outward mercy, good will, and unity with God and neighbor. The sins against charity—hatred, sloth, envy, discord and contention, schism, war and strife, and sedition and scandal—threaten love’s concrete effects by rebelling against dependence on God and undermining interdependence on others. The Betrayal of Charity seriously considers the consequences of each of the sins against love, compelling individuals and communities to recognize their own loss of charity. In doing so, Levering fosters a spirit of restoration and reminds readers that love—not the sins against it—will have the last word.
- Title: The Betrayal of Charity: The Sins that Sabotage Divine Love
- Author: Matthew Levering
- Publisher: Baylor University Press
- Print Publication Date: 2011
- Logos Release Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Charity; Sin › Christianity; Love › Religious aspects--Catholic Church; Thomas Aquinas, Saint, 1225?-1274
- ISBNs: 9781602583559, 9781602587120, 1602583552, 1602587124
- Resource ID: LLS:BTRYLCHRTYSNSTH
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:23:08Z
Matthew Levering is Professor of Theology at the University of Dayton, USA, where he is also director of the Center for Scriptural Exegesis, Philosophy, and Doctrine. Co-editor since 2003 of the theological journal Nova et Vetera, he has also recently joined the editorial team of the International Journal of Systematic Theology. Prof Levering has served as Chair of the Board of the Academy of Catholic Theology since 2007 and co-directs the Center for Catholic-Evangelical dialogue alongside Prof Boersma. His numerous books and publications include most recently The Feminine Genius of Catholic Theology (2012), Jesus and the Demise of Death (2012), and Predestination (2011). Forthcoming publications include volumes on St. Paul and Thomas Aquinas and on the theology of Augustine.